Writing for the conservative Weekly Standard on October 15, Stephen Hayes claims to have uncovered the latest Hillary Clinton email scandal, where an alleged “quid pro quo” took place between the FBI and the State Department.
Hayes writes that a “senior State Department official repeatedly pressed the FBI to change the classification of emails stored on Hillary Clinton’s private server.” According to Hayes, “Patrick Kennedy, the undersecretary of state for management, discussed providing additional overseas slots for the FBI in exchange for revisions to classifications of the sensitive emails” in an attempt to cover up for Clinton.
Hayes’ report is getting some pushback from “occasional blogger” and web developer T. R. Ramachandran, who launched a 15-part tweetstorm debunking Hayes’ story.
Check it out below:
1) Let’s address the latest manufactured Clinton email scandal about an alleged “quid pro quo” – by @stephenfhayes https://t.co/9hBLaVx2qu
— T. R. Ramachandran (@yottapoint) October 17, 2016
2) The claim: Patrick Kennedy a senior State official offered a “quid pro quo” to the FBI to declassify an email found in Clinton’s server pic.twitter.com/BFpkgLFoCj
— T. R. Ramachandran (@yottapoint) October 17, 2016
3) The “scandal” is presumably that Kennedy did this to save HRC’s skin – so that she could claim she never sent/received classified emails
— T. R. Ramachandran (@yottapoint) October 17, 2016
4) This is based on FBI interview transcripts just released – see pages 25-29 in this FBI release https://t.co/wZmBMBxq8w
— T. R. Ramachandran (@yottapoint) October 17, 2016
5) First, if you read the FBI notes, you’ll see how the Weekly Standard story is deeply misleading from the very start pic.twitter.com/shMsi41DZQ
— T. R. Ramachandran (@yottapoint) October 17, 2016
6) Why? The email in question was UNCLASSIFIED at the time it was sent/received! From the FBI report.. pic.twitter.com/mV5mVihApq
— T. R. Ramachandran (@yottapoint) October 17, 2016
7) So, this is ENTIRELY about the common practice of RETROACTIVE classification – something I’ve discussed before https://t.co/mk2Dwaecrq
— T. R. Ramachandran (@yottapoint) October 17, 2016
8) Second, the FBI made NO CHANGE to their after-the-fact classification – there was NO ACTUAL quid-pro-quo https://t.co/QAYGMFIXRu
— T. R. Ramachandran (@yottapoint) October 17, 2016
9) So this tweet is very misleading; HRC’s comment applied to emails not classified at time they were sent/received https://t.co/K4bjxb4btZ
— T. R. Ramachandran (@yottapoint) October 17, 2016
10) Third, “quid pro quo” comment was from lone FBI official; no evidence that Kennedy offered a “quid pro quo” https://t.co/osjSVdNRVS
— T. R. Ramachandran (@yottapoint) October 17, 2016
11) It seems Kennedy was NOT the one who offered something in return; an FBI official asked Kennedy for a favor https://t.co/osjSVdNRVS
— T. R. Ramachandran (@yottapoint) October 17, 2016
12) Fourth, disagreements and negotiations between agencies on RETROACTIVE classification are ROUTINE
— T. R. Ramachandran (@yottapoint) October 17, 2016
13) Ex: Sec. Colin Powell didn’t agree w/ how some of his emails were retroactively classified https://t.co/QzWHlcEcV3 pic.twitter.com/v2iOdJ642h
— T. R. Ramachandran (@yottapoint) October 17, 2016
14) Fifth, the fact that Patrick Kennedy was going back and forth w/ IC on what shd (or not) be retroactive classified is NOT new news!
— T. R. Ramachandran (@yottapoint) October 17, 2016
15) Here’s a story on this from 15 from months ago! https://t.co/uF8waD1ava pic.twitter.com/5hZR968PGk
— T. R. Ramachandran (@yottapoint) October 17, 2016
16) There’s NO scandal here. No quid pro quo. No HRC wrongdoing. Routine stuff is being made to look suspicious. https://t.co/gdWa92pBRg
— T. R. Ramachandran (@yottapoint) October 17, 2016
17) The non-scandal fully explain why this got @TheFix ALL excited as usual – he just can’t enough of HRC’s emails. https://t.co/BxL7Xb2PFQ
— T. R. Ramachandran (@yottapoint) October 17, 2016
